Work experience for university?

[fcb1013]

I want to study Engineering, design, or architecture at university (either in the UK or US). I am going into IB next year.

1) Do the top universities in either countries (esp Oxbridge) require work experience for the aforementioned subjects or in general? Or is it recommended?

2) What would you say are the benefits or limitations of doing work experience?

3) How do students usually end up with an internship? Family connections? Why would companies want IB students at 16 or 17?

4) What are some internship possibilities for the subjects I've listed?

5) When do students usually elect to do their work experience? Summer of IB1?

6) What have you done in your final 3 summers prior to university?

Lots of questions I know, thanks in advance!

[Sandwich]

1. I don't think it's quite so important for these subjects as it is for 'profession' subjects like Law and Medicine but I think it would go down really well if you had done work experience and shown an active interest (plus gained some experience!)... so all in all yes I'd say it's definitely a great idea.

2. I'm pretty sure you can think of these... you get to experience the work place and see whether it's for you? Although god knows in what way work experience has limitations

3. Family connections are great, yes. Otherwise, send a letter and go in person to companies and ask if they wouldn't mind letting you come in for a bit! Family connections obviously facilitate things but a lack of connections shouldn't prevent you from being able to get some experience. As to why they want you, at this stage it's largely out of the kindness of their hearts and perhaps to inspire you to come back and work for them in the future. Also they don't have to pay you, and you can help them out with menial tasks like making everybody a cup of tea and shredding paper.

4. Find a place where people do engineering, design or architecture and these are your possibilities, I would imagine. You may or may not find more success if you just say you want to do some work experience and trail them around a bit instead of demanding some kind of formal position as an intern, as this will probably be a lot easier for them. Also, I'm not massively aware of how internships work but I think the people going for them probably already have some qualifications.

5. Summer of IB1 is good, I did mine during that period as well. Otherwise you leave it too late! The only breaks after that are Christmas and Easter of IB2 and you'll probably be very stressed at that point. Work experience in the summer of IB2 is pointless because unless you're taking a gap year, you've already send off your university applications (and heard back!) at that point.

6. I did nothing useful the summer before the IB, summer of IB1 I did loads of stuff for my personal statement - volunteering, CAS, about 4 weeks of work experience in various different places, taster courses etc. - and also tried unsuccessfully to make a start on my EE. Summer of IB2 I went travelling with my friends and generally tried to de-stress. Failed to get a job and spend most of my time dossing around waiting for Uni to begin!

[Arrowhead]

I want to study Engineering, design, or architecture at university (either in the UK or US). I am going into IB next year.

1) Do the top universities in either countries (esp Oxbridge) require work experience for the aforementioned subjects or in general? Or is it recommended?

2) What would you say are the benefits or limitations of doing work experience?

3) How do students usually end up with an internship? Family connections? Why would companies want IB students at 16 or 17?

4) What are some internship possibilities for the subjects I've listed?

5) When do students usually elect to do their work experience? Summer of IB1?

6) What have you done in your final 3 summers prior to university?

Lots of questions I know, thanks in advance!

1. It is recommended, but not essential. In the UK for example, it's one of those things that can only help your application, it shows your commitment to the subject you want to pursue.

2. That should be pretty obvious, don't you think?

3. Shadowing relatives in the profession is always the fallback option. If not, you can research opportunities. For Law, for example, there are a lot of law firms/Barrister Chambers that offer work experiences to school students.

4. Working at an Architecture firm? Working at a garage for engineering? Shouldn't you know this? Where do you see yourself whichever profession you choose? Try going to get work experience from that final destination.

5. I did my work experiences consecutively over several breaks before and right after IB1.

6. Final 3 summers, well...

Summer before IB1: Worked with disadvantaged village children in an Indian village as a teacher for two months and then worked as an Office Assistant for some extra cash for summer.

Summer after IB1: Shadowed an advocate in India for a week in Family/Contract/Small Claims' cases. Shadowed my aunt who is a Barrister practising in Construction and Arbitration in Singapore for a week. This was mostly me hanging out with my aunt, chatting about uni and eating a lot of free food. Shadowed my other aunt in New York for two weeks. She's an immigration attorney and has a one-woman practice. I learnt and did all the paperwork for several clients. I then went back to India and worked with the same organisation again and went to an Indian village to teach for almost two months until the end of summer.

Summer after IB2: Worked with disadvantaged kids in India, this time I was a Group Leader as opposed to a teacher. Helped with the construction and making of a girls' school - the first in the village. I was there for 10 weeks. I then spent the rest of the summer partying.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Arrowhead

[ChocolateDrop]

1) Do the top universities n either countries (esp Oxbridge) require work experience for the aforementioned subjects or in general? Or is it recommended?

It depends where this top university is. In the UK there isn't as much emphasis on work experience and extracurriculars as in the US, where doing things outside your designated school schedule is a must. I once read this BBC article which highlighted ways to get into Oxford university as according to Oxford tutors, schools with high numbers of students who get into Oxford and Oxford student scout thingies. The article basically said extracurriculars and well-roundedness is "not that important." Some people will well-rounded activities and the others will not.

If you want to go to the US there's sections on the application where you should write a short essay on work experience or extracurricular. http://collegeapps.about.com/od/essays/tp/Common-Application-Short-Answer-Tips.htm

I'd imagine it'd be a bit difficult to fill in if you haven't got any EC's or work experience. Places like MIT which have their own application leave room for you to write about 5 extracurriculars and I think 3+ spaces for you to write about work experience. It would be in your best interest to at least fill in some places. Also from my point of view, top US universities want internationals who are the best of the best and stand out, EC's, work experience and olympiads (if you can) would definitely make you stand out more.

2) What would you say are the benefits or limitations of doing work experience?

Benefit I can think off the top of my head are:

It may help you decide if it really is what you want to do. For example I shadowed this lawyer back when I was undecided between studying engineering and law and from this experience and his advice I realised I'd be best of getting an engineering degree, then deciding whether I wanted to go into law. Basically the guy I was shadowing gave me some insight into the industry also I could see for myself hands-on if law was what I really wanted to do.

It shows dedication to the subject, especially if it's a subject that you weren't offered as part of your curriculum or just didn't study. You're going out of your way to search for anything to do with said subject and this can be translated as passion. Also shows you're not just going by name and have an idea of what you want. It's not like you just heard "architecture" and thought that-sounds-like-a-nice-course-but-I-have-no-idea-what-they-actually-do.com. It's not a rare occurence for students to go on a degree not really knowing what it entails and ending up hating the subject/ dropping out. Universities aim to minimise their drop out rates, that's why they look at grades and grades in certain subjects. It's a loose indication of whether you'll be able to cope on the course.

Limitations:

Time. You may have studies or other things you may want to do like extended essay. Of course, well hopefully, you won't book your whole holiday for work experience but regardless of whether you do or don't assignments don't always get done at the assigned times. Sometimes you get breakthroughs when and where you least expect it.

The work experience is not guaranteed in your area. I live in a super rural place, so I had to search elsewhere for work experience and ended up in an even more rural place. Be prepared to travel.

3) How do students usually end up with an internship? Family connections? Why would companies want IB students at 16 or 17?

One architecture work experience I got through my school. Schools have more contacts than you realise. Go figure. Might be worthwhile asking/ making your interest known to someone in your school. Talk to a careers advisor within the school or an external one it's usually free. There's lots of organisations dedicated to helping youth with jobs and careers especially at the height of youth unemployment.

The other work experience I arranged myself by googling a list of all the "local" (I use the term loosely) law firms and literally calling all of them, explaining myself and asking whether they offer work experience. In some cases I went in with my CV. It's harder to say no to a person with a voice/ face than it is to say no to a letter/ email, because faces and voices make you more human/ real according to the guy I ended up shadowing. Also I think there's something endearing about it and it shows motivation and dedication.

4) What are some internship possibilities for the subjects I've listed?

I can speak a lot more for engineering because I've done more research on it. Traditionally engineering was more hands-on, vocationally taught as opposed to technical teaching approaches because it was argued that this approach was more suited to the discipline. There is still people who view the subject as such and as a result there are numerous apprenticeship opportunities and ways to become an engineer even without a degree. I'm not sure if this is the case for Chemical engineering, but certainly electrical and mechanical engineering. Just look around/ google. They might be interested in new souls people. Especially if you'll work for free, because free is most people's favourite number.

5) When do students usually elect to do their work experience? Summer of IB1?

Varies I did most of mine pre-IB.

6) What have you done in your final 3 summers prior to university?

I've done work experience and gone to random lectures that interest me. Like I went to this one lecture at a University near me on the "physics of superheroes". It was amazeballs.

[Arrowhead]

I went to this one lecture at a University near me on the "physics of superheroes". It was amazeballs.

Legend! That sounds amazing!

[ChocolateDrop]

I went to this one lecture at a University near me on the "physics of superheroes". It was amazeballs.

Legend! That sounds amazing!

You have no idea! It was such a badass nerdfest and you get to appreciate the academics of comics. Such a complete nerdgasm!

Also I'd like to secretly think showing interest in subjects related to what I want to study regardless of how random would be an awesome addition to my resume.